The emission of pollutants due to industry and automobiles such as smog-causing sulphur compounds, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides has caused ever-increasing problems including health hazards and global warming that are becoming the world's most dangerous and preoccupying matters. In addition, the rapid increase in the demand for automobiles in the Asian market, which has doubled in the last four years, requires an urgent solution. The Earth's population is continuously increasing, requiring more energy and putting pressure on the world community to find reliable and clean solutions for these problems.
The emission of CO2 into the air is ever increasing because CO2 cannot easily be neutralized. Instead, it accumulates in the atmosphere to intolerable ever-higher levels which are almost suffocating humans and animals alike. The situation is becoming worse because humans are not only increasing their CO2 emissions into the atmosphere but are also deforesting tropical trees, which are nature's sink for capturing CO2 through photosynthesis. The result is what is commonly known as global warming, which is caused mainly by the accumulation of CO2 through the greenhouse effect. Despite this, burning fossil fuels around the world create 3.5 billion metric tons of CO2 per year. This production comes mainly (40%) from power plants, since about 5000 power plants use coal and/or gas. Since the beginning of the industrial era CO2 in the atmosphere has risen from 280 to almost 400 ppm. If nothing is done, by 2100 scientists expect it to rise to 500-1000 ppm. In part because of this, temperatures are expected to rise by approximately 5.2° C., which will trigger sea-level rise and ocean acidity is expected to increase by as much as 150%.
Fossil fuel is the foundation upon which today's world economy is built. The continuous burning of oil to generate electricity or to run engines has a dangerous and threatening side effect, which is the emission of CO2. Many technologies have been developed to limit or decrease the emission of CO2 in almost all power applications, and particularly in vehicles. However the rate at which the world is producing CO2 is still a threat, particularly if one takes into consideration the emission in the past ten years of CO2 by the emerging markets in Asia and South America. In addition to all the new emissions of CO2 the rain forests in South America and Asia are being decimated, if not completely eradicated, for timber. Today's level of CO2 in the atmosphere is 36% higher than the beginning of the industrial revolution in Europe. It is expected to double by 2050 if the world's industry continues at the present emission rates. Unfortunately CO2 has a very long life time in the atmosphere compared with other toxins like nitric oxides or sulfur oxides. Thus it has a compounding effect by adding to the amounts of CO2 in the air as time goes by, because past CO2 emissions are not eliminated.
One problem with removing CO2 from the air is that it can in itself require energy, thereby increasing CO2 output from other energy-producing locations. There is a need for a cost-effective, safe, and efficient clean energy production solution which can be implemented using current engineering principles and manufactured without overburdening complexity